OCBC Malaysia to sell Great Eastern products

OCBC Bank has launched a partnership with insurer Great Eastern in Malaysia to sell life insurance products through the bank's branches there. The deal will expand the reach of Great Eastern - a subsidiary of OCBC - in Malaysia. Under the partnership, OCBC's Malaysian subsidiary will distribute insurance products developed by Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) through its 29 conventional banking branches. Initially, OCBC Malaysia will distribute two insurance products from Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) - MaxMoney Plus and MaxMoney Back. 'Bancassurance is an important segment of our consumer banking business,' said Andrew Lee, OCBC Bank's head of global consumer financial services. He hopes to duplicate the success the bank has had in Singapore, through its cross-selling of insurance products from Great Eastern. Until recently, OCBC Malaysia was not allowed to sell Great Eastern's products - regulations there did not permit a foreign bank and a foreign insurance company to work together.

In late April, however, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced several broad changes aimed at liberalising the country's financial services sector, including greater flexibility for foreign financial institutions to operate within the country. In particular, the government removed a restriction that prevented locally incorporated foreign insurance firms such as Great Eastern from working with banks there to sell insurance. 'Following the implementation of the new liberalisation rules, we can now work with our subsidiary, Great Eastern, in Malaysia to grow our bancassurance business there,' Mr Lee said. 'We look forward to transferring successful business models and product solutions from Singapore to Malaysia.' At OCBC's first-quarter results briefing in May, chief executive David Conner told reporters that Malaysia's plan to open up its financial services sector further to foreign players would open up new opportunities for the bank and its subsidiaries. He said then that Great Eastern would apply for a takaful or Islamic insurance licence in Malaysia, while OCBC would be keen to add to the 29 bank branches it has there.

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